JPH0350568Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] "Industrial Application Field" The present invention relates to a sheet-like or membrane-like keyboard switch used as an operation input means for various electrical and electronic devices, and in particular, the present invention relates to a keyboard switch in the form of a sheet or membrane that is used as an operation input means for various electrical and electronic devices. Regarding the structure of the tail part necessary for connecting to external devices such as.

``Prior Art'' This type of membrane-type keyboard switch is made by arranging two flexible insulating base materials made of a suitable plastic film to face each other with a required gap between them via a suitable spacer means. The insulating base material is provided with necessary conductor patterns to form a plurality of sets of switches, and an operation display sheet is provided on one side of the insulating base material to display the operating position of each switch. As shown in FIG. 3, such a keyboard switch main body 1 has a connecting portion 7 for connecting to an external device such as a connector, and is connected to the external device via a wiring conductor 6 for connection of this connecting portion 7. It is used to make electrical connections. The keyboard switch main body 1 can be provided with a suitable receiving plate or reinforcing plate on its back surface so as to improve the ease of mounting on the device.

``Problems that the invention attempts to solve'' In such a membrane keyboard switch,
For example, in the case of a type having a large number of switches, the number of wiring conductors required for external connections is adjusted accordingly.
However, if the other device to be connected is a connector, the pitch at the connection end of the wiring conductor 6 should also be set to the required value in accordance with the contact pin spacing of the connector. Therefore, the width of the connecting portion 7 becomes correspondingly large. In this way, in the tail structure in which the number of wiring conductors 6 increases and the width of the connection part 7 also increases, the rigidity of this part also becomes correspondingly large, but generally such a tail part is As shown in the figure, there is a tendency for the components to be bent in a complicated manner during mounting, and in such a mounting manner, the bending portion W is also restricted to be bent below a certain limit due to its rigidity. If this is forcibly bent and mounted, the keyboard switch main body 1 and the receiving plate or reinforcing plate may separate due to its rigidity, or the insulating base materials forming the switch elements may partially separate from each other. This is not preferable as there is a risk of causing problems such as the following. Therefore, when the number of wiring conductors 6 is large in this way, the connecting part 7 is divided into multiple parts, but this method complicates the structure of the tail part and also reduces the number of mating connectors. This may not be considered advantageous since it increases the mounting cost including the increase in the number of insertion steps.

``Means for solving the problem'' As mentioned above, this invention solves the problem when the number of wiring conductors of the keyboard switch required for external connection is large.
The present invention provides a tail structure for a membrane keyboard switch that can reduce the rigidity of the tail part as much as possible and facilitate arbitrary bending and mounting. Therefore, in the present invention, the connection part necessary for external connection is configured to form a pitch and width between the terminal parts that are compatible with the external device of the other party, while the tail part up to the connection part is The wiring conductor pitch and width are configured to be smaller than the pitch and width of the connection portion.

``Embodiment'' Hereinafter, the present invention will be further explained according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. The section 4 is formed integrally or separately, and includes a plurality of wiring conductors 3 of the tail section 2 necessary for the switch of the keyboard switch main body 1.
are connected to the terminal portions 5 of the connection portion 4, respectively. The arrangement pitch of each of these terminal sections 5 is set to a value that matches the pitch of the connecting conductor section of a connector (not shown) or other external device. It is formed. On the other hand, the tail portion 2 is formed at a small pitch for forming the required wiring conductors 3 in order to make its width as small as possible.
The width of the two is also narrower and they are closely spaced. Another means for making the widths of the tail part 2 and the connecting part 4 different in this way is to construct the tail part 2 from a narrow, thin member separate from the connecting part 4 to improve flexibility and bendability. It is also possible to reduce the rigidity and connect each wiring conductor 3 and each terminal portion 4 of the connecting portion 4 to each other as appropriate.

By configuring the tail portion 2 to have a small width as in the above configuration, and by setting the pitch and shape of the wiring conductor 3 to be formed thereon as finely as possible, the rigidity of the tail portion 2 can be suppressed. As shown in Fig. 2, it is easy to form a complex curved portion S on the tail portion 2 when mounting it on the device, thereby forming it into a shape that corresponds to the external device of the other party. This allows the membrane type keyboard switch to be smoothly mounted without being affected by the structure of the connecting portion 4.

``Effects of the invention'' As described above, the tail structure of the membrane keyboard switch according to the invention is configured to have low rigidity without being affected by the connection part necessary for connection with an external device. Since the mounting work can be easily handled without any problem even in cases where the board is mounted by bending it in a complicated manner, the mounting workability can be suitably improved. In addition, even when mounted with such bent parts, it is possible to eliminate the risk of peeling of the component parts of the keyboard switch, so it is extremely suitable for use in this type of membrane keyboard switch. It's advantageous.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan configuration diagram conceptually showing an embodiment of the tail structure of a membrane type keyboard switch according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the implementation mode of the product of the present invention.
Fig. 3 is a conceptual plan configuration diagram showing the tail structure of a conventional membrane type keyboard switch, and Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating problems that occur when implementing the tail structure of a conventional membrane type keyboard switch. It is. 1: Keyboard switch body, 2: Tail part,
3: Wiring conductor, 4: Connection section, 5: Terminal section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In a membrane keyboard switch that has a tail part and a connection part for connecting the keyboard switch main body to an external device, the connection part has the pitch and width between the terminal parts necessary for connection with the external device, and the tail part A tail structure of a membrane type keyboard switch, wherein the width of the terminal portion and the pitch of the wiring conductor to each of the terminal portions are smaller than the width and pitch of the connection portion.